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Looking for a safe place for your savings? With today’s tumultuous stock market (even Mark Zuckerberg is losing money) and bank bailouts of the recent past, it’s no wonder that most of us feel a bit uncertain about the best place to store our money. How about a mechanical bank? For years these cast-iron collectibles proved a suitable spot for stashing cash, not only because they offered lock and key security, but because they made putting money away fun, encouraging […]

Continue Reading about Modern vs. Mechanical: The Best Bank for Your Buck Published on:
July 2, 2012

Have you ever wondered how The Strong uses artifacts not currently on display at the National Museum of Play? Scholars from around the world visit Rochester to study firsthand The Strong’s collections, which are unique not only for their rarities but for their breadth and depth. Museums also borrow The Strong’s artifacts for temporary exhibitions, resulting in travel opportunities not just for the objects but occasionally for the collections manager who so carefully coordinates their excursions (that’s me!). Just such […]

Continue Reading about Have Toys—Will Travel Published on:
June 26, 2012

When I wrote my first blog for The Strong more than a year ago, I talked about nostalgia—so it seems appropriate that I should come full circle and take some time to reflect back on my time at the museum before heading off to a new job in a new city.
I’ve learned a great deal in the last two years. I can safely handle artifacts and identify French fashion doll manufacturers. I know more than I ever thought possible about […]

Continue Reading about Lessons from the Toy Box Published on:
June 19, 2012

To stand at the brink of Niagara Falls—sun shining through the transparent water, the mist rising, the roar underneath, a rainbow overhead—is to experience a beauty so humbling that philosophers and painters describe this dizzying, unsettling moment as “the sublime.” While viewing the Falls, not many can suppress the overpowering thought of how the rushing current would easily sweep them away. Over the years not a few have tested this notion, but only a few have survived. Some have plunged […]

Continue Reading about Skill, Risk, Play, and the Daredevils of Niagara Published on:
June 19, 2012

Father’s Day, being right around the corner, reminded me of some of the most and least paternal characters presented in video games. Whether they’re role models, deadbeats, or something in between, I enjoy interacting with all of the characters that came to mind.
My personal favorite video game father is Ethan Mars from the 2010 blockbuster Heavy Rain. The game centers on Ethan’s desperation to save his son, Shaun, from the Origami Killer. In order to rescue Shaun, Ethan drives against […]

Continue Reading about Video Game Fathers Published on:
June 14, 2012

One-hit wonders. You know them well—the artists whose catchy lyrics and infectious tunes earn them a fleeting moment of mega fame before they plunge back into obscurity. Even so, songs like “Come on Eileen” and “Ice Ice Baby” will live on forever, immortalized in VH1 countdowns and karaoke archives. I can probably do the “Macarena” in my sleep (VH1 considers the 1996 Los Del Rio tune the top one-hit wonder of all time), but I’m also familiar with a different […]

Continue Reading about One-Hit Wonders Published on:
June 12, 2012

While in Seattle for a conference a couple of years ago, I ditched the scheduled luncheon and scooted over to the EMP Museum, a flashy, entertaining, interactive museum devoted to music, popular culture, and science fiction. When I went down to the basement annex, I found the Science Fiction Hall of Fame packed, wall-to-wall, with deeply absorbed science-fiction fans, some in alien makeup or mocked-up space suits. I never counted myself as one of these fans. Until that is, while […]

Continue Reading about Ray Bradbury, 1920-∞: At Play in Space and Time Published on:
June 11, 2012

Do you remember your first pair of roller skates? I do. I can easily visualize the bulky metal skates that clamped onto my shoes when I was about seven years old. Those skates weren’t easy to maneuver, especially as I navigated the uneven sidewalks of my dead-end street, but I recall a certain sense of freedom to having my own set of “wheels” at such a young age.
Those roller skating memories came to life again as I consulted The History […]

Continue Reading about Spinning Wheels: Roller Skating through the Years Published on:
June 5, 2012

In the past months, I have noticed the steady buzz of fanfare for Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.  A year’s worth of royal parades, pageants, parties, and pomp celebrates the six decades Queen Elizabeth has served as monarch. The people of the British realm certainly adore her. And to be honest, many Americans also follow news of Britain’s royal family, finding the whole notion of queens, kings, princes, and princesses fascinating despite fighting a war to stop British royals from ruling […]

Continue Reading about Elizabeth II Is Such a Doll! Published on:
May 29, 2012